Callahan Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Callahan Advisors LLC cut its Salesforce stake by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 3,782 shares and leaving it with 36,637 shares worth about $9.7 million.
• Salesforce is still drawing mixed Wall Street views: some firms remain bullish on its AI-driven Agentforce momentum, while Bank of America rated the stock Underperform and Citi lowered its price target amid growth and competition concerns.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $3.81 EPS on $11.20 billion in revenue, and it also raised its dividend and authorized a $25 billion share buyback program.

Callahan Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,637 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 3,782 shares during the quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,255 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557 shares in the last quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its position in Salesforce by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 1,343 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. BlueStem Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $221,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Salesforce by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 23,093 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,118,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment improved as markets softened their view of the existential threat AI poses to traditional software companies, helping Salesforce shares rebound. Why Salesforce (CRM) Stock Is Trading Up Today
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Agentforce initiative continues to gain traction, with nearly $800 million in ARR and more than 29,000 deals, supporting the bull case that AI can reignite subscription growth. Salesforce Bets on Agentic AI: Will It Lift Subscription Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street expectations are still centered on earnings growth next week, and some coverage argues Salesforce has the ingredients for another earnings beat. Salesforce (CRM) Reports Next Week: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles framed Salesforce as part of a broader software-sector rebound, with investors rotating back into enterprise software names amid the AI debate. From ServiceNow to Salesforce: why are software stocks rallying today?
• Neutral Sentiment: A new partnership with TTEC Digital could help Salesforce push Agentforce into production environments, but it is still early-stage execution news rather than a near-term financial catalyst. Salesforce TTEC Digital Partnership Puts Agentforce Production Use In Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reinstated Salesforce with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, warning that the company faces an “AI-driven structural reset” that could pressure growth and valuation. Salesforce rated ‘Underperform’ by Bank of America on AI growth concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Citi also cut its target on Salesforce, citing slower deal activity and rising competitive pressure, reinforcing concerns that sales momentum may be cooling. Citi Lowers Target on Salesforce (CRM) Over Slower Deal Activity

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $274.56.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $180.23 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $287.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.08, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $213.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.

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